We’re really excited to have Lido Pimienta hosting and curating an event at the Gladstone. Her work as a musician, curator, visual artist and activist falls right in line with what we do in our venue spaces; we’re always inviting new ideas into the building in order to celebrate diversity and challenge the expectations of the conventional events box.

Lido’s Womxn Pedalling celebrates womxn in music. It is a new performance and gathering series showcasing artists using pedalboards, samplers, sequencers, loops, voice and more to create kick-ass music. The lineup for the inaugural show on Thursday April 28 includes Witch Prophet, New Chance, Kira May and Alissa Vox Raw. RSVP Here and get your tickets $10 Early Bird Tickets on Eventbrite! (They are $15 at the door)

Having you host an event at the Gladstone has been in the works for a few months. Throughout the planning process, you’ve brainstormed a few different event ideas, from parties to performances to installations, landing on Womxn Pedalling. Is this a series you’ve had in mind for a while or is it a more current inspiration?

Womxn pedalling has been brewing for about two years, but was waiting for the right moment to release the series. I needed to find the right venue and the right partners. After a few of the original ideas for [an event] at the Gladstone for this month couldn’t happen anymore, I saw an opportunity to bring the series to life, to take the risk. I am excited to introduce these four performers and to continue to showcase more womxn in music through this platform.

Was the decision to launch this event series influenced by any specific events or trends you’ve seeing emerge in the music industry recently?

No, I don’t follow trends, I follow my own drum, and the rhythm and wave right now in our cultural landscape at least downtown Toronto, moves me towards doing these kinds of shows. The shows I want to see and events I am excited to support.

In your interview with NOW Magazine, you thoroughly highlighted the need to diversify the music industry in Toronto, and to create room for marginalized voices. How does womxn pedalling fit into this push to make diverse voices heard? Is there something in particular about the musical technique of looping that speaks to and symbolizes the activist nature of this show?

The womxn in the series, for this first installment, are all established artists in their own right that have been working in music for a long time and are organizers themselves. They have paved their own way in this industry… The show simply highlights womxn in music who happen to be really good at using these pedal boards and loopers. When I started working with those, a whole new world of sound opened up and it was truly empowering. The scene is male dominated, it’s not a secret. So the series is refreshing, it is refreshing and exciting to see talented womxn doing their thing!

The hope is that the series keeps growing. I want to expand and travel outside of Toronto and bring other musicians from South America to come and have an exciting musical exchange. I have big plans, we will just have to wait and see.

How do you approach shows differently when you’re promoting, booking, and curating, as opposed to playing/performing yourself?

I give myself 10000% no matter what. I enjoy all of it, no matter what hat I’m wearing at the time.